A Colorado resident has filed what may be the first lawsuit against McDonald’s following an E. coli outbreak linked to Quarter Pounder burgers, which has resulted in one death and nearly 50 illnesses across the country. The lawsuit, submitted Wednesday in Cook County Circuit Court in Illinois, claims that Eric Stelly consumed food from a McDonald’s in Greeley, Colorado, on October 4 and tested positive for E. coli shortly after. According to the lawsuit, Colorado health officials later confirmed that Stelly’s infection was tied to the McDonald’s outbreak. Although Stelly lives in Greeley, he filed the suit in Chicago, where McDonald’s headquarters is located.
The lawsuit, which seeks damages of more than $50,000, alleges that McDonald’s acted negligently in handling and preparing the food. Following news of the lawsuit, McDonald’s shares pared earlier gains, closing up 0.5 percent; consequently, McDonald’s representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Also Wednesday, McDonald’s USA President Joe Erlinger claimed that the company must work to restore public confidence after removing the product in question, namely the Quarter Pounder, from the menus of one-fifth of its 14,000 U.S. restaurants.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the outbreak has affected people throughout the western and west-central parts of the United States, resulting in one death and 10 hospitalizations for serious complications. Ron Simon, Stelly’s attorney, said he also represents 15 other people affected by the outbreak. McDonald’s and the CDC are investigating the chain’s onion and beef patty suppliers to identify the source of the contamination. On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture indicated that the onions used were likely responsible, although a state partner is testing meat samples for the presence of E. coli.
However, the E. coli O157:H7 strain responsible for the McDonald’s outbreak corresponds to a strain linked to a 1993 episode at Jack in the Box that caused the deaths of four children. According to McDonald’s representatives, suppliers regularly test their products, including during the period identified by the CDC for this outbreak, but none detected this strain of E. coli.
